Lawmakers Lining Up For Pa. Fight

July 04, 1989|by STEPHEN DRACHLER, The Morning Call

Pennsylvania's Capitol will again become an abortion war zone when legislators return from their summer recess in September.

Rep. Stephen Freind, the leading advocate of restricting women's access to abortions, said yesterday the Supreme Court's decision in a Missouri case gives abortion opponents the go-ahead to make access even more difficult.

Legislation will be introduced in the fall to put more hurdles in front of women seeking an abortion, Freind said, with the Delaware County Republican hoping that next year the court will reverse Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that made abortion legal.

But proponents of a woman's right to end an unwanted pregnancy, stung by yesterday's ruling and implications that further restrictions lie ahead, vowed a vigorous fight of their own.

Rep. Karen Ritter, D-131st District, one of the leaders of the pro-choice movement, said she will introduce legislation protecting a woman's right to have an abortion.

Joined by Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, the Lehigh County lawmaker warned that pro-choice advocates intend to make abortion rights a litmus-test issue in next year's legislative campaigns.

Pennsylvania already has one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws. The state's 1988 statute requires doctors to examine a fetus for viability before abortion and mandates that women under 18 obtain parental or court consent before undergoing the procedure.

Those portions of the Pennsylvania law have been on hold in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Daniel Huyett has been waiting for the Supreme Court to rule in the Missouri case. The Supreme Court's ruling yesterday appears to uphold similar provisions in the Missouri case.

"The court has tossed back into the political fray of the state legislatures the deeply personal and private decision of a woman to have an abortion," Ritter said. "No longer can citizens rely on the Supreme Court to uphold its own legal precedents or the fundamental notion of privacy.

"We are now fighting against the Supreme Court, a Republican administration in Washington and a Democratic administration in Harrisburg," said Ritter. President Bush supports reversing Roe vs. Wade, as does Gov. Robert P. Casey, who signed the state's abortion control act last year.

"They may have the momentum. We have the numbers," Ritter said, contending that an overwhelming majority of Americans favor a woman's right to have an abortion but their views have been overridden by a fanatical minority. In recent years, anti-abortion measures have garnered substantial majorities in the state's 203-member House and 50-member Senate.

Ritter said there are many legislators who are pro-choice but have been intimidated by the vocal, politically active abortion opponents. Placing their voting records on abortion before their constituents could force them to shift positions, Ritter said. To force change, she said, anti-abortion candidates should be defeated at the polls.

Josephs said the issue is of overriding concern to women, but the decisions on abortion have been controlled by men.

"They don't get pregnant. This issue doesn't touch their lives," Josephs said. "This deserves to override every other issue."

Ritter and Josephs were among 10 legislators who issued a joint statement decrying the court's decision and pledging to block Freind's efforts to further restrict abortions. Included in the group was Sen. James Greenwood, R- 10th District, of Bucks County.

But Freind said the Pennsylvania Legislature is the strongest anti- abortion legislature in the country and will act quickly on a "new abortion control act . . . the most creative and aggressive one to date because of what the court is allowing us to do."

Freind said he will be working with anti-abortion lawyers over the summer to develop the legislation. He is certain of two parts of it. One will require the father to be at least notified, if not required to give his consent for a woman seeking an abortion. The other would bar sex-selection abortions by couples who wanted a girl, not a boy, or vice versa.

"There will be a lot more," Freind said, adding that the Supreme Court's decision "substantially chipped away (at Roe vs. Wade) and said you can go a hell of a lot farther in restricting abortions."

Freind said opponents will consider taking moves to bar any type of state- controlled funding to agencies that offer abortion counseling to women. The Missouri law barred such funding. The issue of fetal transplants - use of tissue from an aborted fetus as human transplant material - will also be examined.

While Casey released a statement saying he would have no reaction on the court's decision until after he and his counsel have a chance to review it, a spokesman for Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr. said the ruling appears to be a sign that Pennsylvania's law will stand up to court review.